


Happiness

by FreckledSkittles



Series: 2019 SVU Advent Calendar [25]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Advent Calendar, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Married Barisi, Married Couple, Romance, Singing, Slow Dancing, sorry to the lasagna, we love lawyer husbands supporting each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22107136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreckledSkittles/pseuds/FreckledSkittles
Summary: Day 25 of Advent Calendar Writing Prompts.Sonny never thought a happy place could be found, but his has taken refuge with Rafael Barba-Carisi, and he could not be happier.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Series: 2019 SVU Advent Calendar [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559359
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up today and noticed the world needed some more happiness in it so here we are
> 
> Aaaaand this is the last fic of the Advent Calendar! I'm sorry it took so long, but I hope I made up for it with some soft husbands doing soft husband things
> 
> I used four separate Tumblr posts to find prompts for this event. The prompt for this story is: Slow dancing to Frank Sinatra’s christmas songs in the kitchen and forgetting to check the potatoes in the oven. You can find the prompt [here](https://a-cure-for-writers-block.tumblr.com/post/181248792109/otp-christmas-scenarios-that-are-sort-of-original)!
> 
> And shout out to abogadobarba for supplying me with some crooning!Rafael content <3 I greatly appreciate it friend!

It doesn’t matter how many times they dance. It doesn’t matter how many years they spend in this apartment. It doesn’t even matter how long they spend together as a married pair. Sonny will never get over the feeling of his husband wrapped in his arms, pressed against him, his head tucked perfectly under his chin as they sway in the middle of their kitchen.

They had found a Sinatra record lying around and turned it on while they cooked Christmas dinner in the early afternoon. At first, it had been a playful sing-along, bumping their hits together when their favorite songs came on. But then Rafael wrapped his arms around him, and Sonny nuzzled his forehead against the top of his husband’s head, and time evaporated right in front of them.

Sonny squeezes Rafael’s hand and presses a soft kiss into his forehead. Rafael hums at the gesture, his eyes sliding shut in contentment. It feels like the sort of young love that teenagers or young adults feel, just silly and relaxed and fun. And on other days, it’s aged, worn in the best way, when they can read each other as well as they can read themselves and communicate without speaking. Sonny likes to think this is what he wished for as a kid: something easy, natural, but filled with layers that stood separate in their contribution to their relationship but comprised it as one whole.

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas,” Rafael croons softly, leaning back in Sonny’s arms to look at him with the most magnificent shade of green gleaming in his eyes. There is no way that sight will ever get old for him. “Let your heart be light.”

Sonny smiles, the hand wrapped around Rafael’s hip squeezing as he leans down for a kiss. He keeps it brief so he can hear the rest of his voice. Rafael liked to say his singing voice was better kept for the shower, but Sonny refused to believe it was the acoustics making him sound so good. His voice is warm and deep, but he could raise it into a higher register if he wanted. The way the sounds roll off his tongue is enchanting, enunciating every clear spark of Spanish and every fresh spread of English.

Rafael thinks his singing voice is mediocre. Sonny thinks it’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard, only matched by Rafael’s speaking voice.

_ “Oh!” _

_ Sonny looks over to see what had Rafael exclaiming like that. In his hands is a worn but intact record, the disc a deep brown and peeking out from the end. Rafael slides it out and holds it gingerly between his fingers. They only had a few more boxes left to unpack in their new apartment, one of them being a box that had Lucia grinning when she handed it over. Sonny takes a few long strides to read the title of the record over his husband’s shoulder: “To Be With You – Joe Cuba Sextette.” _

_ “Mami,” Rafael mumbles under his breath, “¿por qué harías eso?” _

_ “What she’d do?” Sonny asks softly. _

_ “She gave me Abuelita’s old records. I used to play them for our Sunday dinners. God, she must have taken them after she passed and set them aside for me.” He runs a hand slowly over the sleeve, admiring the cover with a brief glint in his eyes. Sonny recognizes it as a step back in time to the first time he put one on, maybe the first time he chose the record, or the first time he heard it, or the last time. _

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas,” Rafael whispers into his neck. Sonny shuts his eyes at the sensation, the warmth seeping from his husband’s voice, the tickle of hot breath against his skin. “Make the yuletide gay.”

“That’s not a problem for us,” Sonny teases, mumbling the words into soft dark hair. He laughs when Rafael, who stifles the choked sound of amusement, pinches his arm. “What, I think we already did it, Sinatra. Am I wrong?”

Rafael lets out a long sigh. “It’s a fair point. Doesn’t mean it’s good.”

“I’ll take it.”

_ “She said she was giving me a moving-in gift,” Rafael says. “I didn’t think it’d be this.” He waits for a brief moment before he places the record back in its sleeve and starts to pick up the box. “This should be with her.” _

_ “Wait, Raf, hold up,” Sonny steps in front of him and grabs the opposite side. “She gave you these for a reason. She clearly thinks you deserve them.” _

_ “I understand that, but I’m not going to remove her of every reminder of her mother.” _

_ “Just like she isn’t gonna keep every reminder of your abuelita for herself?” _

_ Rafael scowls at that but at least stops fighting for control of the box. “Even so, why should I receive any of it?” _

_ “Because she was important to you.” Sonny manages to take the box out of his hands and place it back down on their dining room table. “Because she was the first person who took the time to understand you. Because you were her one and only grandson in a sea of granddaughters, from her oldest daughter, and she loved you unconditionally.” _

“Here we are,” Rafael rests his head back on Sonny’s shoulder, “as in olden days. Happy golden days,” Sonny pecks his forehead and smiles, all beams of sunshine that radiate pure happiness, “of yore.”

It will never get old how happy Rafael makes him. His wit, his mouth, his kindness hidden behind three different layers of armor. There is so much that Rafael has that Sonny fell in love with the second they started dating. From there, he learned much more than he could have ever asked for, and it was purely natural that he falls in love all over again with each new snippet of information.

“Faithful friends who are dear to us.”

“Did you just friendzone me?”

Rafael laughs, joyful and genuine, and grabs the back of his neck so he can kiss him. Sonny bows into it instantly, laughing with him, his heart expanding to try and hold more of the love he holds for him.

_ They play the record after Rafael burrows himself into Sonny and refuses to lift his head for ten minutes. Rafael doesn’t start singing along with it until the third play. Sonny can only describe it as a soft croon that blends perfectly with the slow jazz leaking from the record player. He’s heard his husband’s voice before, but to hear it with a song so familiar, so important, is much more sentimental than he could have ever expected. And coming from a man who likes to sharpen his words before he utters them as his weapons, Sonny appreciates it so much. _

_ “You don’t sing as much as you should,” Sonny observes once the song ends for the third time. There genuinely is no better sound than Rafael’s voice, no matter what it’s doing. _

_ Rafael shrugs. “I guess I don’t always have a reason to. It’s not like your singing, which you have to do at every hour of the day—” _

_ “Hey,” Sonny chuckles, “don’t say it like you’re upset with it.” _

_ With a soft laugh, Rafael kisses his cheek and reaches up to run a hand through his hair. “You get my point, though, right?” _

_ “I do. It doesn’t have the same value for you. And that’s okay.” Sonny pecks his forehead, taking gentle care to tuck Rafael under his chin again. They play the record again, if only so Rafael can serenade him again and hold him tight. _

They are separated from a blaring screech of the smoke alarm. Sonny breaks apart to rush for the oven, and Rafael grabs the washcloth draped over the edge of the sink to fan the alarm and try to stop it. Opening the oven door, Sonny finds the lasagna charred and a thin wisp of smoke coming from inside. He turns off the oven and slides on an oven mitt to pull out the dish. In all the years he’s cooked his lasagna recipe, he has never messed it up.

“Please don’t tell my mom,” Sonny frowns.

Rafael covers his mouth with his hand but there’s a smile clearly playing at his lips that he tries to hide. Sonny knows how much Rafael finds his pouting amusing, but this is a serious issue. The lasagna is burnt and the family dinner is in two hours. There’s so much he can do.

“Don’t laugh. This isn’t funny.”

“No, of course not,” Rafael snickers. Sonny pouts even more, but he can feel the tug of his lips at the tickled reaction and utter adoration radiating from his husband. “Why would it be?”

Sonny tosses the oven mitt aside so he can take Rafael by the hips and kiss the smirk off himself. He doesn’t even mind that it’s just a tactic for Rafael to kiss off his pout in response, or that the lasagna will have to be replaced with something else, or that they’ll end up being late to Christmas dinner because they’re too distracted by each other. Sonny never thought a happy place could be found, but his has taken refuge with Rafael Barba-Carisi, and he could not be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read and supported my fics throughout these prompts! This was so fun, so enjoyable, and I hope you had a fun and safe and loving holiday season <3


End file.
